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I've been going through Trevor Gore's book and am considering using his falcate bracing techniques on the dred I'm building for the challenge. Trevor states that he uses an Australian pine for his braces which we don't have in the US.

So for those of you that have already experimented with falcate braces, what woods did you use for your bent and laminated braces?

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Eurospruce (German)
Trevor said Sitka can work fine (in a reply to a query from me on another forum)
Just said the batch he had when writing the book wouldn't bend.
I believe he used King Billy Pine when writing (Australian native)
http://www.anzlf.com/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=3712
Hope the link helps.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Thanks Colin, I knew others had traveled the road before me - the link told me everything I needed to know. I have some Adi spruce scraps that I'll give a try.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Can't beat spruce for normal braces, but how about cedar? The CF will give it the needed reinforcement, and it will be slightly lighter. That's the idea of this bracing, right? Adi is not light usually.

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Build log

Something to think about. I have some nice Spanish cedar that I could use. I usually use Adi for my normal bracing which is why it came to mind. I figured there was still a need for some strength from the bracing and it's hard to beat Adi for that.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Oh I meant WRC. Spanish cedar is often heavier than spruce.

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Build log

Well I've got a 3' piece of a WRC 4x8 that's clear and tight-grained; left over when they built my friends porch about 15 yrs ago. I've used it for tops for some smaller instruments, it's pretty nice stuff.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I test bent a piece of Adi that I had laying around, I thicknessed it to 0.080" and it bent just fine. I'll probably try some Sitka and WRC when I get time to slice some off.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I have been using adi spruce...

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MK5acoustics.com

Thanks Wes, I've got a fair amount of Adi brace stock so I can use that. The guitar on the bottom is interesting. Looks like a hybrid x brace kind of arrangement. What's the story there?

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Bosnian spruce!

it's a hybrid design, sounds good so far ,it does seem a little louder than a similar x brace design....,I am getting close to getting the falcate one done so I can compare how it sounds, with the same body style, the carbon fiber makes for a stiff brace and I could have gone a little smaller on the braces, one advantage of the sweep design is that the bridge can be placed after the neck is attached. its all inspired from the Gore books... The one I am building for the OLF challenge will have this bracing ....I think??

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MK5acoustics.com

That's cool, I like experimenting but haven't been ready to make up my own bracing scheme. I've finally been digging into Trevor's books and am 95% sure I"m going to try a falcate braced dread for the challenge. Hope I don't bite off more than I can chew.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"